Blagojevich finds himself in family political battle

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's father-in-law, a Chicago alderman, took a simmering family feud public Friday, accusing the governor of shutting down a landfill run by a distant relative in a political power play aimed at burnishing his populist image. Alderman Richard Mell, a Democratic political heavyweight credited with helping get his son-in-law elected governor, said Blagojevich was trying to show his political independence and get back at Mell for criticizing him. "He can't stand to have people thinking it was me who got him elected," Mell said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Florida. "It's purely because of me, because he wants to demonstrate to the world that he is the champion of virtue and that no relative